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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25004017">Striation</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AetherAria/pseuds/AetherAria'>AetherAria</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Penumbra Podcast</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(so i don't know how to TAG the fucking yet because. i haven't written it lmao), Established Relationship, Gentleness, Lizard Kissin' Tuesday (Penumbra Podcast), Massage, Multi, Science shenanigans, Second Citadel (Penumbra Podcast), fair fucking warning. fair warning about the fucking., look chapter 1 is just a lot of gentle touching but chapter two is going to be pwp, we just. arent' there YET.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:47:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,186</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25004017</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AetherAria/pseuds/AetherAria</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Arum sees something that the humans don't. This discovery leads to quite a bit of science, and quite a bit of touching.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lord Arum/Rilla (Penumbra Podcast), Lord Arum/Sir Damien/Rilla (Penumbra Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>104</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Striation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skunkoon/gifts">Skunkoon</a>.</li>



    </ul><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Google Blaschko's lines, they're REALLY COOL, and the idea of Arum being able to see them hit me like a truck. Shoutout to Skunkoon for the initial idea and subsequent discord yelling about the subject!! This is rated Explicit because it is ABSOLUTELY going to pwp town in chapter two, but this chapter is entirely devoid of sexytimes. please enjoy the gentle.... happy lizard kissin'..... OwO</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"<em>Saints</em>," Rilla groans as she stretches her hands high above her head, joints popping audibly. "Alright, so maybe I overdid it a little rearranging the mints."</p><p>"Your back?" Arum inquires, lifting his snout from his tea and tilting his head.</p><p>"Shoulders, mostly," she says, rolling them with a grimace. "I should've stopped when I got them all up and saved the replanting for tomorrow."</p><p>"Stubborn," Arum says fondly, and Rilla scowls. "Come here, then. Sit for a moment. You've more than earned a bit of rest."</p><p>Rilla considers that, glancing back towards the <em> other </em> sections of the greenhouse Arum has agreed to let her dig her hands into, organizationally speaking, but she <em> feels </em> her neck twinge when she looks and she relents pretty quickly. She sighs as she sinks to sit beside the lizard on the thick-woven blanket he's laid out, and he moves his tea and small stack of books aside to make room for her.</p><p>"Did you have fun watching me, then?" she asks with a raise of her brow, and she grins hard when Arum sputters indignantly.</p><p>"I- did no such thing. I was <em> quite </em> engrossed with my own business, I'll have you know, far too busy with-"</p><p>"Your pile of <em> unopened </em> books?"</p><p>Arum snaps his teeth together, but after a breath his posture softens and he rolls his eyes, presumably at himself.</p><p>"You always move with such distinct <em> purpose</em>," he admits, gesturing with one clawed hand. "It is admittedly difficult to look away, particularly when you are so deeply engaged with a project."</p><p>"Did you forget about your tea, too?"</p><p>"It tastes just as well when cooled," the monster hedges.</p><p>Rilla snorts a laugh, then winces as her shoulders twinge to remind her the kind of abuse she's put them under today.</p><p>Arum tilts his head again, concern on his face, and then he reaches a hand out. "Here. Closer, little doctor. Let someone else do the caretaking for once."</p><p>That offer is simultaneously amusing and tempting enough that Rilla lets Arum's hands snake around her waist, maneuvering to rearrange the both of them, shifting so that Rilla is seated in front of Arum with her back to his chest. When he's done moving them he doesn't pull his hands away, though, or hug her from behind like she's half-expecting. He runs all four palms up her back (she bites her lip, inhales sharply) and then he starts to massage, slowly and carefully kneading the tension out of her shoulders.</p><p>"Mm… yeah, okay, that actually feels really nice," Rilla says, leaning back into Arum's hands as the second set shifts outward to draw gentle, deliberate claws down the skin of her arms, caressing up and down in a slow rhythm.</p><p>Rilla closes her eyes with a sigh, and then the exhale slips into a low groan as Arum's hands find a particularly tender spot, and it feels too damn good for her to really mind the mild chuckle that Arum gives at her expense.</p><p>The hands on her shoulders roam, working slowly through different points of stiffness and soreness, and his other two hands draw claws down from the tops of her biceps nearly to her wrists and then back up, an even and unceasing caress.</p><p>"You keep doing the same pattern with your claws," Rilla notices in a murmur, and Arum's claws draw down again, slow and certain as his other hands continue to knead into her shoulders. "It's starting to feel kinda <em> tingly</em>."</p><p>"I'm simply following the lines," Arum replies mildly, and Rilla can feel him shrug behind her. "Is "tingly" a… <em> good </em> feeling, then?"</p><p>"In this case, yes," she says, and then she glances over her shoulder. "Hang on though- what do you mean, <em> lines</em>?"</p><p>"The stripes down your arms," Arum says, his tone factual and unbothered, though his words make less than no sense.</p><p>"Uh," she says, pulling forward enough that she can turn meet his eyes properly again, "what are you <em> talking </em> about?"</p><p>Arum raises an an eyebrow. "Your… stripes? Obviously."</p><p>Rilla looks down at her own skin, at the place on her forearm where Arum has been steadily and rhythmically drawing his claws, but her skin stays exactly as un-striped as she's always known it to be. "I don't have a <em> clue </em> what you could mean."</p><p>Arum's brow furrows now, and he leans closer again. "Your <em> stripes</em>, you ridiculous creature. You have them nearly everywhere on your body." He traces his claws along her arm in wavering lines, and the contact tickles her hair and, well, it feels <em> nice</em>, of course, but as far as Rilla can see he's tracing a pattern that simply doesn't exist. "There," he says stubbornly.</p><p>"Not there," she says flatly. "Are you messing with me?"</p><p>Arum pulls his head back, and then he scowls. "Are <em> you </em> messing with <em> me</em>?" he retorts. "<em>There</em>," he says again, and then he draws his fingertips over her shoulder in an arc. "And <em> there</em>." Then across her stomach beneath her short top, and Rilla suppresses a laugh as her stomach jumps at the unexpected contact.</p><p>"I <em>don't have stripes</em>," Rilla insists, shaking her head. "Damien!" she calls, and the poet makes a questioning sound from the the other side of the greenhouse a half-moment before his head appears around the trunk of the Everdead. "Damien. I don't have-" she narrows her eyes at the lizard as his scowl deepens, "<em>stripes</em>, right?"</p><p>Damien blinks. "Stripes?"</p><p>Arum's tail curls in the air, the tip flicking irritably. "The repetition is becoming <em> intolerable</em>. The <em> lines on your skin</em>, you infuriating mammals. You <em> both </em> have them. What is the <em> issue</em>, here?"</p><p>Damien's lip curls into a bemused smile as he steps closer. "You know I hate to disagree with you, my lily-"</p><p>Arum snorts.</p><p>"But so far as I can see, neither myself nor our Rilla are patterned in such a way."</p><p>Arum growls, but as he's opening his mouth to argue further Rilla snaps her fingers.</p><p>"So far as <em> you </em> can see," she repeats, dawning realization in her voice, and Damien purses his lips to bury a delighted smile as Rilla practically vibrates with excitement. "Oh, <em> duh</em>, of <em> course</em>. Arum- you're seeing something that we <em> can't</em>. We already knew your vision works differently from ours, I mean, you can basically see in pitch black, but this must be something that human eyes can't pick up on!"</p><p>Arum pauses for a moment, his frill fluttering by his neck as he visibly struggles between the urge to continue arguing and the urge to preen at his superiority.</p><p>"Okay," Rilla says. "<em>Okay</em>. I <em> like </em> this theory." She claps her hands, rubs them together with a toothy grin, and then turns her gleeful gaze on Arum. "D'you wanna try to figure out exactly what it is you're seeing? I don't know <em> why </em> humans would have stripes, but I'm <em> going </em> to figure it out, and this seems like a <em>really</em> fun first step."</p><p>Damien watches the pair of them with a smile he clearly can't help, and Arum stares at Rilla with his lips parted, clearly too overwhelmed by her enthusiasm to remember to protest.</p>
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